68 THE NAUTILCS. 



EPIPHRAGMOPHORA CALIFORNIENSIS, AND THE SHELLS COMMONLY 

 CALLED VARIETIES THEREOF. 



BY HENRY M. EDSON. 



My attention was first attracted to the complexity of the nomen- 

 clature of this group two years ago, while trying to identify a shell 

 which afterwards proved to be a deformed Epip. nichliniana Lea. 

 Since then I have made a very careful study of the group, and have 

 collected over the entire distribution area, and particularly at the 

 type localities. 



Dr. H. A. Pilsbry's ^ catalogue of American land shells was the 

 last work of any scientific value dealing with these species, so I have 

 taken that as a base from which to work, and will discuss separately 

 each of the varieties he retained, and afterwards give my conclu- 

 sions. The following shells were retained in his list : 



Epip. californiensis Lea. 



Epip. californiensis, var. nichliniana Lea. 



Epip. californiensis, var. anachoreta W. G. B. 



Epip. californiensis, var. ramentosa Gld. 



Epip. californiensis, var. bridgesi Newc. 



Epip. californiensis, var. diabloensis J. G. C. 



Epiphragmophora CALIFORNIENSIS Lea. 



This is a species of the maritime region of the Upper Sonoran 

 faunal belt, of very limited distribution. It is found most abund- 

 antly at Point Pinos, Monterey Co., collected sparingly at Point 

 Cypress and Point Lobos, and at a few intermediate localities cover- 

 ing a distance of about twenty miles. It is usually found in the loose 

 sand at the base of plants and small shrubs ; I have counted as many 

 as one hundred collected around the roots of a purple sea aster. The 

 young shells are conical with closed umbilicus. 



Epip. californiensis, var. nickliniana Lea. 



This is a subspecies of the wooded zone of the Upper Sonoran belt, 

 but overlaps into the Humid Transitional. It shows great variation, 

 which fact was early recognized by Dr. Newcomb.^ It is widely 



1 Nautilus, si, 1897. 



^'Amer. Jour. Conch., I, p. 342, 1865. 



